


Nick

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-23
Updated: 2006-03-23
Packaged: 2019-02-02 18:29:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: This is my second AU story where ex-Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill is an international kidnap and ransom negotiator and Dr. Daniel Jackson is an expert on middle eastern cultures who now works with Jack. He is also Jack's new lover. Daniel gets word that his estranged maternal Grandfather, Nick, has been kidnapped by South American extremists. So Jack O'Neill and his kidnap and rescue team go to help out.





	Nick

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

I'm not sure how much longer I can pretend I understand what Sam is saying. Shit, O'Neill, don't you even think of yawning, you hear me? She'll scalp me if I do. Somebody stop her from talking, please! HELP!

"Um, Sam?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

Sheesh, if I tried interrupting her like that, she'd sick Janet on me. It's not fair. Daniel can get away with anything, and with anyone. Hell, he can even get stuff by Janet! We won't even mention me. Oh, admit it, O'Neill, you're a complete pushover when it comes to Danny. All he has to do is flash those baby blues at you, and lick that lip, and on your back you go, tail wagging. Yep, total wuss, and loving every moment of it.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I'm thinking that Jack probably needs to go check his messages or something like that. I want to hear more about this probability analyzer, and especially how I can program specific cultural factors into it for increased accuracy."

Danny, I could kiss you! Of course, I don't need an excuse to want to kiss you. Want to do it 24/7, if you'd let me.

"Oh, sorry Jack, I forgot you hate stuff like this. I'll put together a summary for you of what it does in the field, okay?"

She's getting smart-uppity on me again. Got to nip that in the bud.

"Hey, no need to curl that lip up at me like that, Sam, sheesh, you've been taking lessons from T, haven't you? Figuring those things out is what I pay you for, ya know."

Sam started laughing. "Aren't *we* sensitive about our image in front of Daniel, eh, Jack?"

"Shuddup, Carter."

Whew! Barely got out of there with my dignity intact, even if my face is as red as a fire engine. She's getting as sarcastic as, well, as me.

Daniel was right about my messages, though he'd just been using it as an excuse to cut me loose from boredom central. Hmmm. Better head back to Sam's lab.

"Hey, kids, I hate to cut playtime short, but we've got a new job. It seems an archeologist with Oxford University has been grabbed down in Guatemala. We've got to get down there, Daniel, George just told me the situation is critical. He wanted you to check your email, Sam, for the information he sent. Check it out, add anything you think pertinent, and send it to us. We need to go home and pack, could you book us on the next flight out to Guatemala City, going first class, of course? George said he is trying to find out who this Nicholas Ballard's next of kin is right now, to get them out to Guatemala where he was grabbed."

"Nicholas Ballard? Um, Jack, I'm his next of kin. Nick's my Grandfather."

I couldn't help it. I stared at him. He had told me he didn't have any family since his foster father passed away.

"Daniel?"

He actually is looking guilty. What could make Danny look guilty? Oh, dumb question, that. Danny feels guilty about everything. God, he's cute when he's guilty. God, he's cute all the time. God, I *really* have it bad.

"Sorry I, um, didn't mention Nick, Jack. We're estranged. I haven't talked to him for twenty-eight years."

I can tell he doesn't want to say anything else in front of Sam, so I speak up.

"Let's talk about this on the way to the airport, big guy. See ya, Sam. Make sure Bray is there to meet us at the hotel, and call Harry Maybourne, he's still active down there. We could use his help if we have to pull a rescue, since T won't be there. Tell T to enjoy his time off with little Ray and Janet. You should take some time off, you workaholic, but I'd appreciate you not doing it until after this job is over."

She grinned at me. "For two pounds of chocolate and that new satellite receiver unit I wanted, you've got me."

"Jesus! That thing costs a quarter of our earnings for a year! Okay, you blackmailer, go ahead and order it. Anything to keep my braniac happy, Carter."

I know. Total wuss. But Sam is one in a million, and I'll do almost anything to keep her with me.

* * *

Daniel's being awfully quiet here. I've been waiting for him to tell me about his Grandfather, but not one word has escaped his lips. He and I are alike in our dislike of talking about, uh, stuff. It's a guy thing, I guess. Oh, well, I have to know before we get off this plane.

"Daniel?"

"Umm?"

"Do you want to tell me about Nicholas Ballard?"

Without looking up from his tome, he answered me. "Um, no."

"Okay."

I opened my fishing magazine to the article about deep sea fishing I've been wanting to read for about two months now. Never get the time to do anything, what with the K & R business and loving Danny keeping me busy 24/7. Not that I mind. Loving Danny, that is. Wouldn't mind too much if people wouldn't get kidnapped for a while, just to get some down time.

"Nick's my mother's father."

Not pushing him was the way to go. Good.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes. When my parents were killed, he refused to adopt me, said he was too busy to take care of a child. He left me for the New York State foster care system. If it hadn't been for my father's old friend, Dr. Thempus Philbin, I would have been raised in foster care homes. Fortunately, Themp was in New York assisting Mom and Dad in erecting their find, and he grabbed me up and adopted me as soon as Nick's back was turned."

"Tough thing for the old guy to do to a kid, Daniel. What kind of man is he?"

"How would I know? I haven't talked with him since the adoption, he hasn't sought me out, and I haven't looked for him. I've read a few articles he's put out, but the man's been pretty much labeled as a crackpot with his crazy theories."

"Like what?"

His blue eyes turned to me. "You get bored when I talk about my colleagues' theories."

"This is business, kid. So try to keep it on my level, okay? What was the old man into?"

"He believed that the Egyptian pyramids are far older than the Egyptian people. He didn't prove that theory, but based it on some odd correlations in some translated writings he found."

"Writings? He's a linguist too?"

"Um, no, the translations were mine, from a thesis I wrote. I thought they were odd, but I didn't have enough data to prove anything. Nick was also looking for a Mayan fountain of youth, and a rose crystal skull in Belize. He found the skull and came up with some improbable theory for that as well. Since he couldn't translate all of the writings in the pyramid it was found in, he gave that up pretty fast."

"I'm surprised that he didn't ask you to translate those writings. You do Mayan stuff, don't you?"

I could tell he was pleased that I'd noticed something about what he did. I'm not dumb, really, I just pretend to be, to make smart people like Danny and Sam not lecture too much at me. It's also good to have enemies underestimate you, so I play dumb.

"He did send me a letter asking me to help him. I didn't respond to him." He smiled a small smile, but one which lit up his blue eyes. "You noticed I do Mayan translations?"

I moved so my nose was almost touching his. "Danny, I notice everything about you. Haven't you realized that, yet, artifact boy?"

His smile changed into a smile that I knew only came out for me. "I've noticed you noticing some things more than others, Fly Boy."

I cracked up at his comment.

"Ya can't blame me there, Daniel. If you weren't so damned hot, I wouldn't be noticing it so much."

"I wasn't hot, until I met you. Now I'm hot all the time, in more ways than one."

"Hold that thought, Daniel." I turned and signaled the steward. "Could we have some blankets and pillows, please?"

Once I had the blankets, I spread them over Danny's and my bodies, strategically covering certain body parts. I had already raised the separating seat handle between our first class seats at the start of the flight. The pillows were props, so we could look like were sleeping.

I put my face back near my lover's and said quietly, "Now, what were you saying about being hot? Ever heard of the mile high club?"

"Jack, be good."

My only answer was to reach over under the blanket, put my hand under that damned book of his, heavy sucker, and squeezed his just- hardening dick. I then unbuttoned and unzipped his fly and pulled him out of his jeans. Danny was good, I'll give him that. The only sign that I was jerking him off was him closing his eyes and he turned all red. Oh, and he did drop the book off his lap to give me room to maneuver (or maybe so it wouldn't get gunked up, knowing him). Just watching Danny try to hide what I was doing to him made me so hot, that when his hand finally came over and shyly touched me, I climaxed after only a few strokes of my jeans-covered dick. He never even got to pull it out of my pants. Utilizing all the discipline I'd learned in the Air Force, I hid my pleasure from other eyes, and continued my hand motions. I was rewarded for my willpower by the faces Danny made when he came as he exploded all over my hand. It was that grunt at the end, the small one that sounded like he was in pain, that had me hard again. Not bad for an old guy who doesn't take Viagra, eh? Twice in about fifteen minutes. Not that it stayed hard. I mean, I am forty- eight years old. Can't expect miracles.

I looked for something to wipe my hand off on, and when I finally took the blanket with my good hand, Daniel whispered, "Jack, no! That's the property of the airline. Here, use my sweatshirt."

Shit is he nice. He doesn't even want to cheat the airlines. How did I luck out and get this man to fall for me? Even after six months, I still found it hard to believe that Daniel considered himself the lucky one. I suddenly wanted to kiss him so bad it hurt.

Instead, I snuggled up facing him and whispered, "I love ya, Danny."

He smiled, a sated sleepy smile, and proceeded to tell me he loved me in what I assumed were some of the different languages he knew, since I recognized a few of them. "Je t'aime. Yes kez si'rumem. Ami tomake bahlobashi. Volim te. Tora dost daram. Ich liebe dich. S'ayapo. Hoon tane pyar karoochhoon. Anee ohev otkha. t'a gr'a agam dhuit. Ti amo. Wo ai ni. Want me to go on?"

"Show off."

"Hmmm. I just mean it, is all."

"Getting sappy here."

"You started it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Not."

"Did."

"Okay, maybe I did. How about a nap?"

"Sounds good."

* * *

As usual in the summer in Guatemala, it was roasting weather. The 95% relative humidity meant that we were roasting and being steamed at the same time. By the time we got our stuff and made it through customs, Daniel and I were both drenched in sweat.

"Look, there's Bray!" Daniel waved, smiling. He really liked the old reprobate ex-Mossad agent. Bray was gay like us, and flirted with Daniel all the time, except when he was taking care of our business, of course. It got on my nerves, but since Danny enjoyed it, I didn't say anything. Not that Bray would stop if I told him too, or anything. He'd always done exactly as he pleased, even when he was a master assassin for the Israeli government. The only reason they put up with him so long was because he was one of the world's best at what he did. He still is, though he's retired now. Now he limited himself to doing odd jobs for me, and only killed when he had no other choice.

"Jack, who's the man beside Bray, the one with the beard?"

"That's an old friend and Air Force colleague of mine. He worked this part of the world when we were both Special Forces, and I did some jobs with him. When he retired, he decided to stay here and set up a security business. He still does work for the US government, even though he's a civilian now."

Harry looked pretty good. It looked like the hot life down here was working out for him.

We approached the two men, who had seen Daniel waving at Bray.

Bray clasped my forearm in an ancient warrior's gesture, and I returned the compliment.

"O'Neill. I have booked you into the hotel you requested, and my men are already there setting up the command center." Bray turned to Daniel with a grin. "Ah, hello there, Dr. Jackson. You look as though O'Neill is taking excellent care of you, which is good for his continued health."

Daniel fluttered his eyes at Bray, blushing a bit. "You look pretty fit yourself, Bray."

He laughed. "Not too bad, for an old man."

"You'll never be old, Bray, not in spirit."

Meanwhile, I was greeting Harry. It had been a while.

"Harry." I put out my hand, and he took it to shake. "It looks like life down here is good for you. You look great."

He did, too. I mean, Harry Maybourne wasn't a looker, not like Daniel was. He was about four inches shorter than me, and stocky, with shrewd blue eyes and a sharp face. Now he looked tanned, fit, and somehow younger despite the facial hair. Like I said, not classically good-looking. But I would always find him attractive, despite the fact he wasn't my physical type, or that I loved someone else. I guess people always feel that way about their first.

That's right. Colonel Harry Maybourne had been my first male lover, when we both were in Air Force Special Ops.

Sara and I had divorced amicably, and I had been trying to come to grips with the fact that I liked men a hell of a lot more than women. Harry had sensed it in me, and when we found ourselves in the back part of hell that is the Brazilian jungle, running from revolutionaries and the corrupt Brazilian police, Harry had seduced me. Since I liked his crazy sense of humor and trusted him to guard my six, I went ahead and let him introduce me to gay lovemaking. He fell hard for me, but recognized that I didn't feel the same way. When we got shipped out to different stations, we'd parted friends. I even offered him a job with my K & R shop when he retired. I understood when he turned me down, though. He always did like the South American jungles.

"You look really good, Jack. I gather that he's the reason you look like that?" Harry nodded towards Daniel.

"You didn't just guess that. Bray told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. But once I saw the two of you together, I could see it. Not to mention that, from the way you smell, you've been initiating him to the mile high club, haven't you?"

I laughed and hugged the man. It was good to see him again. "None of your business, Harry. God, it's good to see you again, you crazy bastard! T's with his lady and their new son, so I thought of you for watching my six. I figured that I might as well see how you handle yourself now that you're a civ."

"I handle myself the same way I've always done, Jackie-boy, with panache and sass. I keep my hand in the business, and work only when I feel like it. What's not to like about that life?"

"Got ya, there. I'm working all the time, it seems. The K & R business is booming, a lot more than in the old days."

"Jack, are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Daniel's pointed remark brought us out of our reminiscing. I put my arm around Danny's waist and said, "Sorry. Um, Daniel, this is Colonel Harry Maybourne, retired, a buddy from my Special Ops days. Harry, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, my firm's interpreter, translator, cultural expert, and my partner."

I noticed that Daniel put his arm around me right back, which was unusual for the shy man. Maybe he was feeling threatened by the sparkage that's always there between me and Harry? I liked the idea of Danny being jealous, for some reason.

Harry looked Daniel up and down, finally reaching out to shake his hand. "Good to meet you, Dr. Jackson. Never thought I'd see the day that Jack O'Neill finally got tamed, but I can see that he is, totally. Are you two hitched?"

"Call me Daniel, please." He extended his hand and shook Harry's. "Um, no, we've only been together six months, actually, um, Colonel."

"Daniel it is, and I'm Harry. Well, let's get out of here and back to the hotel, where at least it's air conditioned. You two look like you could use a shower."

Damned if I didn't blush like a schoolgirl as Harry flashed those evil blue eyes at me when he said that. He had been the one to initiate me to the mile high club, and he knew my signs by heart.

This was going to be one hell of an interesting job.

* * *

After we showered, I set up my computer in the public area of the suite Bray had set us up with. I got on-line and downloaded the information Carter had sent me. Daniel was making coffee, and Bray was talking to one of his men in Arabic, giving him instructions for guarding the command center. I always set a 24/7 guard around the com center, and have since I was almost killed by an IRA assassin who walked right into my room wearing the hotel uniform. Harry was off doing something, but he'd said he would be right back when he left.

"This is weird. Daniel. Oxford sent Sam information on Nick's latest project. He was looking for some sort of scrying stone that Mayan priests used to use for telling the future."

"That isn't weird, for Nick. He's always on wild goose chases like that. The funny thing is, he always has plenty of funding, as well."

"That's not what's weird. It looks like the funding for his project came from a project run by Joichaim Saritorez."

"Who's that?"

"He's the head of the Karjianne drug cartel. I've run across him before. He's a ruthless bastard who would shoot his own mother if he could make a buck from it."

"Do you think he was the one who kidnapped Nick?"

"Why would he kidnap someone who was working for him? That makes even less sense than Saritorez funding archeological research in the first place. He never does anything without a benefit to him or his cartel behind it. I'd put my money on a rival cartel taking Ballard."

"Actually, it was Jose Sanchez who gave the order to grab the professor, Jack."

We both looked up at Harry when he said that, who had just come in the door.

"Sanchez, Harry? No way."

"Yes, way. My sources just pinpointed him as the one who's behind the grab."

"It doesn't make any sense for Sanchez to do that, Harry. It isn't his style."

"I hate to interrupt your special forces speak like this, guys, but could someone please explain to me who Jose Sanchez is, and why he would want to kidnap Nick?"

Harry glanced over at Daniel, then back at me. "Nick?"

"Ballard is Daniel's Grandfather."

"Um, estranged Grandfather."

"Oh. Should you guys even be doing this job then, Jack? It's a little close for comfort there."

At Daniel's questioning look, I explained. "K & R people don't usually work on cases involving family members. You're my family, and Nick's yours."

My lover blushed in pleasure at my comment that he was family, rewarding me with a shy smile. A lump hit my throat, and I fought off a momentary sap attack. Once I had my tough-guy act back in place, I nodded at him.

"Since Daniel and Nick haven't spoken for forever, we're okay with it, Harry. There's no conflict of interest here."

Maybourne shrugged. "I figured you had it covered, Jack. You always do. Anyway, Sanchez runs this government's ugh, the closest thing to call the Verchaze is a secret policing organization."

"You mean like the old USSR's KGB?"

"Exactly. Guatemala is outwardly a representative democracy, but in reality it is a dictatorship under the President of the Republic. Sanchez' organization is what keeps President Luginar in power."

"I haven't heard of the kind of atrocities that go with a dictatorship in Guatemala, Harry, wouldn't word of that kind of stuff leak out to the world?"

"Not with Luginar, Daniel. He has a steel fist inside a velvet glove. Plus, he has a world class PR agent. He keeps his atrocities to a minimum, and very quiet. He doesn't want to go down like Hussein because of bad press."

"How'd you find out it was Sanchez who ordered the take, Harry?" He made a face at me, and I grinned back at him. "Not your source names, just how the information got out."

"I have friends everywhere in the Guatemalan government, both high and low, Jack. I haven't exactly been sitting on my keester here, you know."

"Well, do ya know where they're holding the old man?"

"What do you want, Jack, me to do your job for you?" His blue eyes were twinkling as he teased me. "We don't have enough information yet for me to pinpoint a loc. Is there any way we can find out what the old man was doing, or working on, when he got grabbed?"

Daniel had opened his email, and downloaded the same reports from Sam. "I just might be able to tell you that, if you guys give me a few minutes. Nick is required to keep Oxford up to date on anything he finds, and they should have included all his updates when they sent their information to Sam."

That was my cue to skedoo. I got up from the couch. "Come on, Harry, let's go get a beer somewhere while my wunderkin works his magic. Will an hour be enough time, Daniel?"

He was staring at the screen, his magnificent brain engaged in the hunt. Finally he realized I had asked him a question, and he looked up. "Sorry, an hour will be fine, Jack. That should give me the time I need to figure out what Nick was up to, and where he was at when he was taken."

"Okay, then we're out of here." I came over and kissed him lightly on the lips. I just loved Danny's lips. "Bye."

"Goodbye, Jack, Harry."

* * *

We walked down to the local market area and found a cafŽ that served beer. To get to the market, we had to cut through some alleys, which were dark and smelly like all alleys in third world countries.

As I stepped around something disgusting, I felt someone grab me and throw me none-too-gently against the stucco wall!

"What're ya doing, Harry?" He had grabbed me and was pressing up against me hard.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Jack?" He growled that, and I could feel his hard-on pressing against me. God help me, as soon as I felt that monster prick of his rub against my thigh, my dick responded like a traveler in a desert responds to water.

When he kissed me, for a few seconds I let it happen, lost in old time sake stuff. Then I remembered Daniel, and I started struggling against Harry in earnest.

Unfortunately, me fighting was only more of a turn-on to my old friend. He liked it rough, always had. I really had to push hard to get across to him that I really wanted him off me. It didn't help that my dick was lost down memory lane, and wanted it rough like only Harry could do. It had been a long time since I had experienced really rough sex, and I didn't realize just how much I had missed having it like that. Don't get me wrong here. I know how to make love, how to fuck, and how to play. But only Harry had ever been able to bring out the animal in me this strong, and it had been a very long time.

Using all my strength, I pushed him away, slung him around, and slammed him up against the gunk-smeared wall. "No, Harry. Stop.

He probably would have stopped then, if I hadn't reversed our positions, shoved against him and kissed him hard back, my libido now on automatic. I did manage to pull away after I had got my lip bloodied from his teeth scraping it, feeling myself almost ready to explode as I forcibly rutted against his body.

"We got to stop this, Harry."

His blue eyes were almost all pupil with lust: His face was red from the force of our kissing.

"You know you want it, Jack, this doesn't lie!" He grabbed my erection through my jeans, the tight squeeze of his fingers only making me harder.

"I can't. Daniel." I was past the point of complete sentences.

"He can't give you what you need, can he, Jack? He can't give you *this*!" The hand on my dick squeezed harder, past the point of pain. Harry's other hand went to my chest and twisted my nipple roughly, causing me to almost cry out with the searing two-point agony.

"Oh God, nobody can do me like you always could, Harry." Damn it, my voice was shaking! Wuss! "Yes, just like that."

"Say it." He tweaked me again, and I felt my body shaking with pure lust as the pain rammed straight to my dick.

"Yes, I want you to do me, Harry! Even after all these years, even despite Daniel, I want you to fuck me until I bleed! Christ, is that what you wanted to hear?"

He let me go, laughing quietly. "Yeah, that's what I wanted to hear, Jack. Shit, I'd forgotten how goddamn fuckable you are, you bastard. I haven't found anyone since you who responds so fast and strong to what I do to them."

I adjusted my erection, which was throbbing with ghost pain from his vise-like grip. "We're both sick bastards, is why, and you know that."

"Being tortured in prison will do that to a guy. Seriously, Jack, have you told that pretty professor of yours about this kink you have?"

"No, and I never will."

He looked at me as though memorizing my face. "You must really love him. You plan to stop doing it that way for the rest of your life?"

"I won't cheat on Daniel, Harry. If I want pain, I'll just have to do it to myself. Hey, I don't need it so much anymore, and I'm satisfied with my sex life."

"If you were as satisfied as you say, you wouldn't have gotten so hot when I only tweaked ya a couple of times. If you keep denying it, Jackie, it'll take you over when you're least expecting it. You'll do something dangerous, and risk everything to satisfy what you need."

We had started walking again as I answered him, "You sound like you speak from experience."

"I do. I haven't met anyone I wanted to love since you left, but once I retired, I fell for a male dancer out here. We were good together, Jack, like you and your Daniel in a lot of ways. But he was gentle, didn't like giving or getting pain even occasionally. I was fine for several years, just kept ignoring the needs. One night I blew. I went down to the seediest gay bar I could find, picked up the nastiest brute there, and had it out with him. He hurt me pretty bad, but something kicked in and I fought back like a madman. You know what happens when we get rough, with our training, against civs, Jack."

"Harry, you didn't kill him?"

"No. But almost. He came after me with a knife, and I flipped out. He lived, and I lost a lot of cash to buy the police off of me. Eduardo left me, he was so hurt that I cheated on him with that trash. He also got scared I'd do the same to him some day. I decided then and there not to fall for anyone again. It hurts too bad. So now I have a few pros I call when I get the urge, and they take care of me without pushing me too far. It works for me pretty well. At least it did until I saw you again."

We were sitting at a table and had ordered beers by then. "Ya gotta tell Daniel, Jack. He isn't an Eduardo. There's a lot boiling underneath that sweet exterior, or I'm losing my touch in reading people. I think he can handle it, and may even like it rough himself once in a while, who knows. You can't deny what has made you the man you are. Being forced to take it up the ass and suck dick in that Iraqi prison, the torture, it bent something in you, and me from the Honduras. Granted it eases as the years pass. But it won't ever go away, and you know it."

I took a pull on my beer, then said quietly, "I know. There's a lot Daniel doesn't know about me, Harry. I'm afraid to let him see what he's gotten himself into too deeply. I don't want to live without him. I'd rather bury that part of myself deep."

"Don't you think he'll know something's not being satisfied in you, Jack? It's obvious even to a blind man that he's crazy about you. Just promise me you'll think about telling him, okay? Hey, if not, you can always pay me a visit, and I'll take care of you, and you me."

"I'll think about telling him, Harry. Come on, let's order another beer."

* * *

When I got back, Daniel only had to take one look at me to know something had happened. My lip was still bleeding a little and my clothes were covered with something that smelled to high heaven.

"My god, Jack, what happened?" He put his fingers up to my split lip gently, concern radiating through him. "Did you and Harry get mugged?"

Bray was standing behind him, and I could tell from the look on the old man's face that he knew exactly what I had been up to, though I have no idea how he could. There were only a few people who I actually feared, and Bray was on the top of that list. He'd warned me when Danny and I first got together that he'd kill me if I hurt him. I looked over Daniel's shoulder at Bray, letting him know with my eyes that I would make it all right if I could.

"Danny, come on in the bedroom, okay? I need to talk to you."

"Sure."

He only looked puzzled.

Once we were in our bedroom and after I had changed clothes, I brought him over and we sat on the bed.

"I wasn't mugged, Daniel."

"Then what happened?"

"Harry kissed me, and I kissed him back. I got this cut lip from his teeth. I got messed up when he shoved me against a wall in a filthy alley."

Now I could see the hurt come into his face, and he hugged himself tightly.

"Daniel, please, don't judge me until you hear all of it. I didn't cheat on you."

"Th... Then why were you kis...kissing Harry?"

Daniel's stutter only came up when he was really upset. I fought down the urge to hold him, thinking it would just upset him more.

"Harry was my first male lover, when we served together in the Air Force, Daniel. He was the one who taught me how to make love to a man. But there was something else he did for me, something a sick part of me needed."

The hurt was easing a bit since I told him I hadn't cheated. Daniel knew me well enough to know I wouldn't lie about something this important.

"What did he give you Jack? What sick need?"

"It goes way back, back to when I was just a lieutenant and new to special ops. I was still married, and Charlie was still alive. I got injured when a jump into Iraq went bad. My team left me for dead, and I got taken prisoner and ended up in an Iraqi jail for over four months."

"Oh no, Jack." He put his hand on mine, which somehow made this easier to tell. I'd never told anyone but Harry the whole story. Not even Sara.

"For over four months those bastards used me for everything a man can be used for. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that I'd get out one day, would see my son again. I killed my guards and escaped finally, made my way to Saudi and to the American Embassy. Once I got home, they made me go to a shrink, but I didn't, couldn't, Daniel, tell the guy all that happened. It was me not opening up that was the last straw for Sara, she took Charlie and left me."

"Once I was fit for duty again, I was sent to Honduras and served with Harry. He had been through something like me, made a prisoner and brutalized for almost a year before he got out, only in Honduras. That he had the balls to go back and work there really impressed me. Anyway, I told you that Sara made me realize that I liked men more than women. I'd never been with a man, though, and, well, Harry sensed it about me. He seduced me, and taught me how to make love to a man. He also did, um, other things for me. I found that I sometimes... shit, this isn't easy to fucking talk about!"

I wanted to get up and pace, but I made myself stay there facing my lover.

Daniel moved over to the head of the bed, sat down, spread his legs, and said, "Come and lean against me, Jack, let me hold you in my arms. It will make it a little easier for you to tell me, I think."

I did as he wanted, and not having to look at his beautiful, loving face did help, somehow.

"In that prison in Iraq, the guards did... well... they used me as their whore, Daniel. They taught me that I would get beaten unless I let them fuck me, or sucked them off, whatever came to their fucking evil minds. A part of me separated off from my mind when that happened, and I sort of went away. Once Harry and I became lovers, we both found that we had a certain need for, um, for rough sex sometimes. To give and get pain. Not a lot of pain, not anything really bad like the sadists do to each other. Just things like squeezing each other's dicks too hard, or twisting nipples, biting, using an extra large dildo, that sort of thing. Neither of us could abide being tied up, not after what had happened to us. But once in a while, and with Harry it was more often than with any other lover I've had since, I just needed the pain with sex."

Danny's arms tightened around my chest. "You haven't asked me to do that to you, Jack, since we've been together."

"I... I was afraid that you wouldn't want me if you knew what a perv I am. I asked Sara to get rough with me once when we were still married, to twist my nipples, bite my dick, you know. The look she gave me was like she thought I had gone around the bend. I was afraid you would think there was something wrong with me if I asked you. I don't want that sort of thing all the time. It's just that once in a while I really need it, though I'm not sure why."

"Jack, turn around and look at me."

I repositioned myself to see him, and felt my breath freeze in my throat when I saw the love that blazed out of those blue eyes of his.

"Jonathan O'Neill, I love you, and I expect that I will for the rest of my life. I want to give you what you need. If you need me to be rough with you occasionally, well, I'm not Sara, and I'm not some fucking shrinking violet. I've done rough, I like it myself sometimes, just to remember that I'm still alive after a particularly hard life experience. You should have told me what you wanted."

"You... You still want me, Danny, after kissing Harry and everything?"

"You said you didn't fuck Harry, did you?"

"No. I kept thinking of you, and couldn't do it to you."

Daniel grabbed my arms in his strong hands. "Yes I want you, and I want to give you everything you need, do you hear me?"

"I hear you, Daniel."

"So, strip, O'Neill!"

"Um, now?"

"Yes. Didn't you hear me? Strip!"

I did. Daniel wouldn't let me get back on the bed. Instead he roughly pushed me against the wall of our room so hard that I bumped my head. When he had me where he wanted me, he bent down and took one nipple in his mouth, sucking on it. I was already hard, but when Danny bit down sharply on my nipple, my dick became hard enough to hammer nails, and I needed release, bad. Only Daniel had other ideas. He grabbed the base of my cock hard and squeezed it to stop the inevitable. Once he was sure I was cooled down, he went for the other nipple, and bit even harder on that one. I groaned and pushed his head down even closer to it, at the same time trying to thrust against his jeans-clad hip.

"I didn't say you could try to come yet, O'Neill. Stop it." When he slapped my dick away sharply, I let out a moan that made him smile.

"You do like this, don't you?"

"Yeh, don' stop!"

"Okay." He grabbed my face in his hands hard enough to leave bruises and kissed me roughly, opening up the wound in my lip that Harry had put there. He sucked on the bloody lip, then licked it gently, which almost blew me away again. Finally he knelt down in front of me and took my aching cock in his mouth. When Danny sank his teeth into the sensitive head, I screamed, the pain was sharp and to the point. Him sucking after the bite caused me to come, no, to *detonate* into his mouth, pumping and pulsing into him like the whole liquid content of my body was being released. My groaning didn't stop until there was no more left in me to give.

The banging at the door brought my mind back from below.

"O'Neill, Daniel, are you well?"

I croaked, "Yeah, Bray, we're good. It's okay."

I looked down at Daniel, who still knelt in front of me.

"He thought you were killing me or something."

He grinned, and I helped him up and took him in my arms.

"Or something, huh."

"You want that," I rubbed my lower body against his groin to feel his erection. "taken care of, Danny?"

"Yeahsureyoubetcha, Jack."

I picked my almost two hundred pounds of solid muscle and bone partner up into my arms and took him over to the bed. There I gently laid him down and proceeded to strip and kiss every inch of him.

"I want you inside me, Danny, now!"

"Um, I should prep you first."

"No, no prep or lube. Just fuck me rough, Jackson, let me know you own me, you hear me?"

"Own you, Jack?"

"Yes. Now!"

I got on my hands and knees in front of him on the bed and spread my legs in invitation. I heard him spit for lubrication, then felt him behind me. With only a slight hesitation, he pushed into me as deep as possible and the pain of it seared through my body. Daniel couldn't hold back any longer, and with a groan, he started fucking hard, having no mercy on my body except managing to hit my prostate with every thrust. When he came, I was hard again and he reached over and began jerking me off. It was a mostly-dry orgasm, but a strong one as he continued to stimulate my prostate while pounding into me. As my orgasm clenched my anal muscles around his cock, he groaned and came again.

When Daniel pulled out of me, he used his shirt to catch the semen that came with it.

"Jack, you're bleeding!"

"That's okay, love, it'll stop soon. I'm fine, and you gave me exactly what I needed, and then some. Commere!"

He moved into my arms and let me hold him tightly. I kissed his blonde-brown hair and said quietly, "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but whatever it was, I thank the stars every day for it. Thank you for, shit, getting sappy here, for loving me, despite what a loser I am."

"Jack, you aren't a loser, and I don't ever want to hear you say that again. You're a hero, a man who risks his life to help people on a daily basis. You've got a fucking Air Medal and a silver cross from your service days. You gave me hope in the goodness in this world, when I'd lost it. I don't love losers, and I know quality when I love it. Okay?"

"Okay, Danny."

"Another thing, Jack. Don't keep your needs a secret from me, ever again. I don't want a need of yours that isn't filled to drive you into someone else's arms. You're mine, you hear me, and I'll kill anyone who touches you!"

"Huh?"

He smiled at me. "I like words, Jack. I am a linguist, after all."

"Words, huh? I'll remember that, for when I have the energy to go again, in a century or so."

"Come on, let's take a shower and go reassure Bray. He sounded kind of nervous out there after you screamed so loud."

Danny sounded so smug I almost laughed, and he strutted into the bathroom like he owned the whole world. Well, sure enough he owned this scarred old soldier, every damned piece of me. And that was exactly the way I wanted it.

* * *

Harry was with Bray when Daniel and I came back into the living room part of the suite after our shower. My ass was as sore as hell, my dick was, too. Despite the bruises, I felt totally on top of the world. My Danny loved me and didn't get turned off by my weird needs. Life is good.

Daniel surprised me by making a bee-line to Harry. He grabbed my old friend and pulled him up to his face by the neckline of his shirt. Surprisingly enough, Harry let Daniel manhandle him, which wasn't like my friend at all.

"Jack told me everything, Maybourne. Now I'm going to tell you this only once. The only man who gives Jack what he needs is me, you hear me? If you ever touch him like you did again, I'll kill you. He's mine, period."

I could see that Harry was torn between amusement and anger at Daniel's words and attitude. What my old friend didn't know was that Daniel could be a very dangerous man when he was protecting someone he loved. I'd seen that danger in him on the jobs we'd done since he joined my company. Seen those warm gentle eyes turn to the coldest of ice pebbles when someone threatened me. From desert warm blue skies to the ice pits of hell, in seconds. Even I wouldn't want to take on what stared out of those cold blue eyes then. He might not have had the training to kill that we've had, but in Daniel's eyes that time I'd seen death for the terrorist that had his gun pointed at me. I killed the asshole myself, to keep his face away from Danny's nightmares. He was just another face in mine now.

"You could never take me, Jackson. Even Jack would have trouble taking me, and he's had years of experience at it. Don't threaten unless you can pull it off, or you might annoy me."

Bray decided to step in. Bray thought the world of Daniel, and wouldn't allow anyone to threaten his young friend. He put his big hand on Harry's shoulder and pulled him around to face Bray.

"You would have to go through me to get to him, Hashak, and I was killing men when you were still at your mother's teats."

Harry and Bray eyeballed each other, assessing strengths and weaknesses like the seasoned professionals they were. Damn, was that sparkage I was feeling between the two of them?

Bray and Harry?

What d'you know? It could work. Bray had his own kinks, from living the life he had. No one I knew was a match for him, no one except possibly T. But Harry could hold his own against the ex-assassin. Enough so that Bray would respect him, which was something the old man rarely found, yet needed badly. Hmmmm. Maybe some matchmaking was called for, here.

"Okay, you two, can it. Flirt with each other on your own time, got it?"

Now Bray's cold eyes turned to me. "Flirt, O'Neill?"

I got into Bray's personal space, staring him down. "Yes, Bray, flirt. Take it from me, Harry can give you a run for your money. But we got a job to do, first, okay?"

"That's the pot calling the kettle black, O'Neill, however, I will wait until we have returned Daniel's grandfather to him before I decide what to do with this Hashak."

"Don't do me any favors, buddy, and what the hell's a Hashak?"

Daniel offered, since Bray didn't say a word. "Um, it's Hebrew for one of the wild sheep that run the hills above Jerusalem."

"SHEEP?" Harry moved over to Bray and grabbed him in fast motion. "You called me a fucking sheep, asshole? I'll show you who's a sheep."

Two lightning quick moves, and Harry was on the floor with Bray's foot on his adams apple.

"What was it you were saying, Hashak?"

Harry moved, grabbed Bray's foot, twisted it, and brought the master down flat on his back. The two of them wrestled a bit, but I could see that it was only playing now. No one, not even me, was a match for Bray. But Harry came pretty close. Close enough for Bray to be able to respect Harry.

Bray grinned from his position on top of Harry. "I will beat you again when there is the time for it, Maybourne. I look forward to it."

Harry flipped Bray off of him and scrambled to his feet, a grin plastered on his face as well. "Me too, Bray, me too."

Daniel, standing with his hands on his hips, said, "Now that you two have finished butting horns and other things, can we get down to getting Nick back from where ever he's been taken, please? Do you two *mind*?"

Both men grinned at Daniel, but meekly kept quiet. As dangerous as each of us ex-soldiers were, not a one of us could stand against that snarky, beautiful, blue-eyed archeologist when he wanted his way. We knew when we were beaten. Dr. Daniel Jackson was the acknowledged master when it came to taming hard-ass soldier types.

"Sorry. Did you find out what Ballard was working on, Daniel?"

He turned to me. "Yes. He was up at the Lepo ruins in northern Guatemala looking for an ancient scrying stone. Those ruins contain the remains of a Mayan and an Aztec temple. The funding did come from Joichaim Saritorez, and all finds were to be given to him. You know, that in itself is an unusual agreement between an accredited university with the excellent credentials the Oxford has. I took the liberty of calling the Chairman of the Archeology department. I received my degree in Archeo-linguistics from Oxford, and have kept up my contacts there."

"Anyway, Richard Donnely, the Chair, told me that the funding package included five hundred thousand pounds of free funds that the department could use as they saw fit. That was above and beyond the six hundred thousand pounds earmarked for Nick's scrying stone research. They really couldn't look that gift horse in the mouth too closely, since the need for funds for archeological excavation is so desperate. The funds came from a legitimate business, and that was as deep as they went into it."

"What company, Daniel?"

"Les Cubres Internationalle, or in English, The International Cougars, Inc."

Harry spoke up. "That's the front for the Karjianne cartel. It's based in Brazil, the only country in South America with no legal reciprocity with the US. The DEA has been trying to get something on that company for at least a decade. Without success, I might add."

I thought of something then, something that didn't fit the normal K & R profile. "George said that the way Oxford found out about the kidnapping was because one of Nick's research associates called them from a cell phone and told them Nick was being grabbed, and he sounded pretty scared when he called. There hasn't been a ransom call, or a call to take credit, anything like that. George also said that Oxford told him that the local police couldn't find any of Nick's workers, his research students, no one who worked on the dig."

Daniel's face showed his upset at this news. "All of them, Jack? Do you think they were all kidnapped?"

I went over to him and took his hand. "No, Danny. If Sanchez is behind this, I expect that all of the witnesses are dead. That's the way he works."

"But they were innocents. There was no reason to kill them."

"These type of people don't need reasons to kill, Daniel." Harry said. "To Sanchez and his ilk, killing someone is even easier than blowing out a candle on a birthday cake. The others were in the way, and that's more than enough reason to do it."

"What makes you think Nick is alive, Jack? If he found what they wanted, then why not just kill them all?"

"We just have to hope that whatever Nick found, they still needed his expertise to do what they wanted with it. Until we see your grandfather's body, Daniel, as far as we're concerned, he's alive." I kept my eyes on him and asked Harry, "Harry, there probably weren't any written records kept by the police on the visit to the site, do you think?"

"No, Jack, it was probably the cops who killed the witnesses, on Sanchez' orders. Our only chance to find out whether the old man is still alive is to go to the site and track them to the burial place. Hopefully we can pick up the trail from there."

Daniel looked over at Harry. "After we're there, what do we do then?"

My friend shrugged. "We dig them up, and ID the bodies to see if your grandfather is among them. If he's not, we see if we can find him."

I patted Daniel's shoulder to give him some encouragement after Harry's stark remark, then turned to Bray. "Bray, did you bring enough of your men to handle this? It's going to be pretty bad."

"Yes, O'Neill, I brought all of my men with me, and all are seasoned soldiers with much experience. With you, Daniel, and Harry, there will be twenty men to do what needs to be done. Will that not be enough?"

"If it isn't, then we'll all be dead and won't be able to complain about it anyway."

* * *

I wasn't looking forward to going to what I was pretty sure was going to be a kill zone. I'd seen enough mass graves in Iraq and other places to know it would be bad. One thing I was sure of, though, I didn't want Daniel to see it, if it was as bad as I expected it to be.

We flew by chopper into the Lupa ruins. This operation could take a while, so we brought all the stuff we would need, from camping equipment to body bags. The noise of the helicopter didn't allow casual talking, so I couldn't say anything to Daniel about my concerns then. I didn't get a chance to talk to him until we were setting up our base camp.

"Daniel, can I talk to you for a sec?"

He was working with one of Bray's men to set up our tent.

"Sure."

We walked away from the site a bit. "What is it, Jack?"

I turned to look at him. As usual, he looked great. Dressed in green fatigues like the rest of us, Daniel still stood out. Out in the field, he preferred to wear a bandanna over his head like a do-rag, a style which I thought was hot as hell. I'd managed to get rid of the too-big bdus he'd worn when he started with us, and finally got him in a uniform that fit. Now I could see more eyes than mine follow him as he walked around the site. I thought I was being very self- controlled when I didn't shoot anyone for looking at my Danny's butt like that.

His curiosity was peaked when I just looked at him. He fidgeted with his glasses, then the do-rag, then finally asked me again, "Jack, what's up?"

"Daniel, I'm pretty sure we're going to find a kill zone around here somewhere, which'll lead us to a mass grave, more than likely. I want you to concentrate on the ruins and Oxford's notes on Nick's work, not go with us to find it, okay?"

"Jack, I know what you're trying to do. You can't keep trying to protect me from things. I know you don't think I'm a child, but it still feels like it sometimes, when you pull this."

"Daniel, me wanting to keep you away from opening up a mass grave has nothing to do with me thinking that you are a child, or me wanting to protect you. Well, not much, anyway. The rest of the team are seasoned soldiers, we've all seen the worst that people can do to other people. Shit, can you blame me for wanting to save you from an entire new category of nightmares?"

His eyes gentled, and he reached up and stroked my face. "No, I can't blame you, because I love you for it. But I also can't let you do it. Jack, what type of man would I be if I let you and the others go and do the unpleasant stuff, while I sit around counting artifacts or translating text?"

"A smart one."

"No, I would be a man who has lost all self respect, and the respect of the man I love. You wouldn't admit it, but it would be true." He moved closer to me, taking both my hands. "The only way what we have will work, Jack, is if we have an equal partnership. Not one where one partner is dominant over the other." He smiled. "I hate to inform you of this, Colonel, but you *are* pretty dominant."

I had to smile at that. I was as alpha as they come. "Sorry, it comes with the rank, I guess. Sara used to call me pushy. But I got what you're saying, Daniel. No more treating you like a kid, or trying to keep you out of things that might be nasty or dangerous. If we go, we go together. I can't promise not to be over-protective, though. That's just how I'm made inside."

"I know that, Jack. The day you aren't overprotective of me is the day I start looking around our house for alien pods. If I had a big problem with that trait, then I would have been gone after our first job together. In case you haven't noticed, I'm still here"

"I wake up every day and wonder why the hell you haven't run screaming off into the night heading for the first airport back to the middle east. And I'm thankful every day when I look over and see you still there, sleeping next to me. I can't figure out why, but I'm still thankful."

"I've lost everyone I've ever loved, Jack. I won't leave you by choice, I don't think, and you won't leave me, either. That means a lot to me, that you'll fight to stay or come back to me. How do you know that I don't wake up thankful that you're still there as well?"

He looked back at the camp. "We'd better go back and I'll start checking the notes that Nick sent Oxford. I guess you'll go out with the trackers?"

"Probably. I'll come back and get you before we go anywhere, if we find anything, okay?"

"Okay, Colonel."

Before too long, I left him there, sitting by our tent, his head bent over the printouts of Nick's summaries.

* * *

It took us a while to pick up the trail, even with an expert tracker like Bray along.

"Nothing, Bray?"

"No, O'Neill, not from the northern side."

"That's the last side we checked. Harry, it's not like the local police to clean up this well, is it?"

"No. Usually they leave all kinds of traces that even a baby could find. I'm thinking that Sanchez must have had some of his goons out here giving orders, Jack."

"What should we do about finding out what happened to them?"

"Let's not give up too soon, O'Neill. I'm thinking we should do another close search, grid by grid, but out farther from the ruins, add maybe another ten feet. We don't dare try a larger distance, it would be too easy to miss the signs."

"Bray, tell your people to spread themselves out ten feet out from their present grids. We've got to find something to tell us whether the old man's still alive or not."

The extra ten feet of distance did the trick. One of Bray's men found blood signs in a southwesterly direction from the ruins. I sent him to go get Daniel from camp, while the rest of us continued to follow the trail of violence.

Daniel came hurrying up as I squatted over something Bray was pointing out.

"You've found something?"

"Yeah. This is the place they were killed, Daniel. From what it looks like, they didn't even have a chance to fight it. That's why it was so hard for us to find the place. Not much was disturbed until we got here."

A shout in Arabic from one of Bray's men brought me to my feet. We moved as a group to where he pointed, and the smell of the place told me we'd found the burial pit. Only it was obvious that the bodies hadn't been buried deep enough, because the local animals had been at them.

Bloodied bones and rotted flesh, what was left after the animals had feasted, tattered clothes, tool belts, glasses, all the normal detritus that came with being human was in that place.

I looked over at Daniel, ready to take his hand if he wanted comfort after seeing this horror. But my lover, even though his face was ashen with sorrow and shock, needed no support.

"Nick might not be in here, Daniel."

He walked among the dead, finally stopping at a pathetic pile of clothes, bones, rotted flesh, and a skull with patches of gray hair still attached in spots.

"Here he is, Jack." Daniel squatted down and took something from a torn pocket. "This is Nick's journal. He'd never go anywhere without it."

He got back up and came over, his hands shaking and his face expressionless, as he looked down at the leather-bound notebook that reeked of the dead flesh it had laid among.

"This should tell us why this was done to him, Jack." He gestured to the rest of the bodies. "To all of them."

Before Daniel put the filthy thing into his own pocket, I handed him a plastic specimen bag. "Here. Let's get this journal disinfected and fumigated before we open it, okay?"

"Um, fine."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, Jack." I had been with him long enough to know that whenever Daniel said he was fine, he was, in actuality, not fine at all. But there wasn't anything I could do here except offer what comfort I could, which wasn't much.

"Daniel, we'll find out who these people are, and we'll find out what happened here. You have my promise on that."

"Um, thanks, Jack." Daniel's eyes darkened into that killer blue stare I had only seen once since we met. "I'll get whoever did this, Jack. I promise you that."

Whoever did this, be it Sanchez or the drug cartel, right at that moment I almost felt sorry for the bastards. Daniel would take them down, no matter how bad the odds were stacked against my partner. Hell, I'd be right there helping him, and so would Bray, T, and Sam, maybe even Harry as well. Those suckers were going down!

I decided to video tape the bodies in situ first, before we started moving them to body bags. Daniel directed the taping, explaining to Harkur, Bray's man who got volunteered to do the shoot, every angle and direction he wanted recorded. I left him to his task, knowing that it would keep his mind from dwelling too much on what happened to his grandfather. Even though Daniel and Nick hadn't been talking, Daniel had lost so many people in his life that even the loss of an estranged relative would be pretty devastating to him.

The videotaping took several hours. We had just finished when the clouds started moving in big time.

"Okay, people, let's get tarps over the site!"

With a lot of scrambling, we managed to protect the grave site before the skies opened up on us. Scrambling back to the camp site, Daniel and I crawled into our tent to dry off and change clothes. Now that I was running my own show, I had a tent that was large enough to stand up in, and to move around. Sure beat the military pup tents, which were almost too small for a man to fit in them.

I pretended not to watch Daniel as we stripped and dried off, but I'll have to admit that I was worried about him. He had that look on his face, the one that told me he was trying to hide strong feelings from me.

I didn't bother putting on my clothes, with as hot as it was in here. I just reached over and pulled out a water bottle from my pack.

"Water?"

"No, thanks. Um, I think I'll go for a walk, Jack."

"Not a good idea right now, big guy, these storms are dangerous to be out in."

"If I want to go for a walk, Colonel, I will."

"Shit! Go the hell out if you want, Jackson, just put some fucking clothes on first. If you get hit by lightning or crushed by a tree, I guess we can hold two funerals just as easy as one."

Daniel looked down at his body: He had only put on some boxers. He looked back up at me and said quietly, "Sorry. I didn't mean..."

Two steps and he was in my arms being held tightly.

"Um, Jack, loosen up, I still need to breathe, you know."

I complied, pulling back to look at him. "Sorry. Daniel, I'm really sorry for what happened to Nick and his crew. I wish we could have saved him."

"What I don't understand is why this happened, Jack. It makes no sense to me. Why would they kill an archeological team?"

"I expect that they're hoping all the relatives of the team would figure it was terrorists, or some such thing. They probably didn't count on experienced soldiers being on the scene so soon after it went down. Or on Harry, with his contacts in the government, being on the team."

"I think I figured out what Nick found, Jack, from his notes and the information in my reference books. They didn't send him out to find a single stone, they wanted him to find the lost treasure of the Mayan priesthood. It supposedly contained all sorts of precious stones and such, including the scrying diamond he said he was looking for. It was a pure, unflawed and uncut diamond of over thirty carets. Do you think that these guys killed this team for the treasure Nick found?"

"That'll be enough reason for most criminal minds, the kind that thugs like Sanchez or Saritorez have."

"But the agreement was that they would keep the find, Jack. It doesn't make sense that they would have everyone killed."

"Unless Nick saw exactly what was being given away, and put up a fuss. Then every person on that team would be a liability if they wanted to keep the find a secret."

"It must have been that, then. Come on, let's sit down and figure out what we're going to do." He pulled me down on our joined sleeping bags, and I put my arms around him again. Danny leaned into me, needing the comfort bad.

"I'm going to expose these atrocities, Jack, and I'm going to take down the drug cartel, Sanchez, and that company, Les Cubres Internationalle. I'm going to make sure that this is made public."

I looked at his flushed face, saw the determination in his eyes. I knew my partner well enough by now to know that when he had that look, there was no way in hell I would be able to talk him out of it. He was even more stubborn than me, which is really saying something. So I did the only thing I could do. I offered to help him.

"We'll do it, Danny, you and me, together, with Bray, T, Sam, and maybe even Harry. But we have got to do it smartly, not go off half cocked here. These maniacs are fucking dangerous, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You hear me? Together?"

He smiled at me, suddenly shy in showing his pleasure that he wasn't alone in this crusade of his. My Danny had been alone too much in his life. Once again I vowed to myself that I would do my best to make sure he would never have to deal with pain alone again.

"Together, Jack. Have I told you how much I love you today?"

"Sure, but it's always nice to hear again. Ditto, by the way." I glanced out of the mesh that covered the unzipped doorway of the tent. That rain was really pouring down, and I knew from experience that this could keep up for hours.

"It looks like this is going to keep up for a while. In the meantime, what do you want to do?"

"Plan what we're going to do, but before that, Jack, remember I said that sometimes I want it rough too?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Would you, ah?" He started blushing. He didn't blush the whole time he roughed me up sexually, but now he's red as a cherry because he's asking me to do the same. Sweet!

"My pleasure, Dr. Jackson. I live to serve. Commere!"

Making love to Daniel, the rough way we did it in the midst of that monsoon rain, was one of the happiest times in my life so far. That this shy, independent man came to me for comfort, looked for safety in my arms, and only mine, just blew my mind.

By the time the rain stopped, we had the basics etched out on our plan.

These bastards were going down!

* * *

Daniel stood up in front of the United Nations Civil Rights committee, and smiled his shy smile.

"Honorary Representatives of Britain and America, I want to show and tell you a story of horrors that are going on right under our noses. Please bear with me, as I asked all of you here not to use your interpreters. I speak all of your languages fluently, and wish to tell you this tale myself, in my own words."

Using the video tapes we had taken of the mass grave, as well as pictures of as many of the archeological team when they still lived that we could find, my Daniel proceeded to tell their tale. The fact that he told each representative on the committee the story in their native language, with all the proper nuances, impressed our message into their minds and hearts. By the time my love was done, there wasn't a non-angry face in the place. There would be an investigation, and Daniel's presentation had assured that it would be very thorough.

He also got ten job offers that day, from ten separate representatives. He just smiled at them, caught my eye, and said politely, "I really appreciate the offer, but I'm very happy where I am."

While Daniel and I were attempting to go the legitimate route against the people who had killed Nick, some things started happening. Odd things.

Les Cubres Internationalle, the legal front for the Karjianne cartel, experienced a sudden loss of all their operating capital. It was used over the computer to purchase essentially worthless real estate stock in the Sahara Desert. The company was completely bankrupted, and was forced to fold down its operations. At the same time this happened, an unknown assailant bombed the empty headquarters building in Brazil on a holiday weekend, totally destroying the building with no loss of life. When the company tried to claim insurance money on the building and lost assets, it was found that all copies of their insurance plan had disappeared from their backup main frame and at the insurance company as well.

Joichaim Saritorez called a meeting of all the leaders of his drug cartel after their front company was destroyed. At this secret meeting, someone shot a missile from an unidentified jet flying below radar level, destroying the entire meeting area and the people in it. In one move, the Karjianne drug cartel was wiped out.

Jose Sanchez was assassinated while leaving the house of his mistress, killed by one bullet shot, which turned his head to pulp.

On the same day of Mr. Sanchez' death, President Luginar was assaulted on his way to church by an angry crowd of citizens. The mob overwhelmed the President's guards and tore him to pieces. Afterwards, not one of the perpetrators was ever caught.

* * *

Epilog

"Jack?"

I looked up from my newspaper at Daniel's upset tone. He was white, and looked like he was going into shock or something. I threw down my paper and went to him.

"Daniel, what is it?"

"Di... did you order Saritorez, Sanchez and Luginar to be ki... killed?"

I ignored the burst of pain in my gut that Daniel would believe I could do something like that. I couldn't blame him, after all, I had done things like that, many times. He was just being realistic.

"I heard about that on the news. No, Daniel, I don't work that way. If I wanted someone killed, I'd do it myself. But I have a good idea who might have."

"Who?"

"Bray, with Harry's help, I think. You know what Bray did for a living. This sounds like his work. I expect that he didn't like what that bunch did to Nick, and how it hurt you. You know how much he likes you."

"Then all this is my fault."

I grabbed his arms tight enough to leave bruises. "No, Daniel, it isn't your fucking fault. I refuse to let you take on the guilt for these hits. You are not the keeper of Bray's conscious, or Harry's. If they did this, and there is no real proof that it was them, they decided to do it despite the fact that both of us would be against such actions. Bray does work for me, but I don't own him. He's always done as he pleases, but I've never seen him take out a righteous mark, in the jobs that I know he did. Those guys got what they deserved, love, and I'm not sorry it happened. But I swear I'll beat the shit out of you before I let you take even an ounce more undeserved guilt on you shoulders! You hear me?"

His blue eyes were huge, he was so surprised at my anger. "I hear you, Jack. Um, should I ask Bray about it?"

"Do you really want to know that he killed them because of what they did to Nick and you, Daniel? Do you really want that on your shoulders, when it wasn't what you wanted or asked for?"

"No, I guess not. It's not like I could have stopped him, or anything. I've just never known anyone who would kill for me before."

"Then those pretty blue eyes of yours don't see anything, Daniel Jackson! Every single one of us love you, and would kill anyone to keep you safe and happy. I wanted to go after those bastards more than almost anything, not for Ballard, but because of the hurt they caused you. But I didn't."

"Why didn't you, Jack?"

God, this is hard for me. But he had to know what he's done to me, to my heart that I thought was dead a damned long time ago.

"Because I couldn't bear the look in your eyes if I'd done it, that's why. I couldn't stand to tarnish the fucking image of me you have, Daniel. That's why. Bray could stand it, I guess."

He came into my arms, tears glistening in his eyes. "Jack, my image of you has nothing to do with it. Because it's you, O'Neill, that I see, not some bright and shiny tin soldier. I wouldn't have been happy with you if you had killed those men. But I would still love you, and will until the day I die. It's way too late for me to stop now, I'm afraid."

"Yeah?"

"Yes, Jack."

"Well, Jackson, no one ever will accuse you of having any taste."

He kissed me, the smile back in his blue eyes. As we were separating, Danny's stomach growled loudly, making me laugh.

"Come on, let's go down to the cafe and get some breakfast, what do ya say?"

"Okay, Jack."

I made myself a mental note to call Bray and cuss him out for going out on his own. The man needed to realize that Daniel would feel guilty for the rest of his life if he ever really thought that Bray had done this for him. Killing drug cartel leaders and assholes like the other two was okay, but not if it upset my Danny. No way.

The End


End file.
